


good moment

by Radio Rascal (Vagrants)



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Past Abuse, extreme self-indulgence that i couldn't give context for even if i wanted to
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:35:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26889742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vagrants/pseuds/Radio%20Rascal
Summary: After so long stuck in one place, fighting for droplets of energon and hanging onto life by a thread, Arcee didn't know if she could trust change.
Relationships: Arcee & Galvatron (Transformers)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	good moment

**Author's Note:**

> the fun thing about writing murdertwins is that they're both the evil twin. like Arcee gets better but the point is that there was getting bettering to be done

Arcee sat up in her cot and reached over to touch her brother. In a few moments she recognized her surroundings as the private quarters assigned to them by Megatronus Prime, but she didn’t relax or remove her hand from Galvatron’s warm chestplate. She felt his spark pulsing, not with her hand but with her own spark, tethered to his with an invisible, unbreakable thread. The steady thrum calmed her; if there was real danger, Galvatron would also be having a physical reaction to it. He was calm, and this convinced her brain module that the dream truly was just a dream, albeit based on true events.

Galvatron, still sleeping, purred instinctively at the contact. Deep in his armor, his engine turned on and idled, warming his body and Arcee’s hand. It was a deep, rumbling sound that drowned out the other little mechanical noises in the room and sent a vibration up her arm, reminding her further that they were okay. She wanted to believe it.

He lay with his limbs splayed, taking up the majority of their bed space, which they’d made by pushing two cots together. She was half-certain they’d been kicking each other in their sleep, and it was probable that she started it, not even in competition for more leg room. She lay down next to him, on her side, keeping a hand on him.

It seemed Megatronus Prime didn’t understand the nature of their relationship. When they requested detachable cots in place of sturdy, heavy recharging slabs, he’d raised a brow. He’d frowned when they asked to have their own room. It was only for a little while, Arcee explained, but they needed to be alone. Her reasoning was frank—their previous master had been horrible to them, and they didn’t want to display their nightmares to soldiers who didn’t know or care about them, soldiers who likely resented the shine Megatronus had taken to them. It had convinced him, but Arcee admitted to herself that she was still shaken from the conversation. Stating her desires to a Prime...at one time such a thing had been unthinkable.

Their current quarters were much better than what they had before. The room could actually be called a room, rather than a glorified closet. It was still repurposed from something else—there was a stack of boxes in one corner, indicating it had been for storage—but that was because of the Prime’s lack of notice, not because he thought of them as toys, eager to be played with before he grew tired of them and shoved them into a box. Arcee didn’t trust it.

In the arena she was the more cautious of them, the one who stayed back and observed the enemy while Galvatron charged, ax raised and voicebox screaming. She’d pulse reports to him through their spark bond—words couldn’t be communicated, but feelings could, and if a situation made watchful Arcee nervous, then bold Galvatron would take heed. He’d distract the enemy, allowing Arcee to read them before she advanced with her swords. Their teamwork allowed them to survive. It was hard to ignore her ingrained desire to search for threats and hidden weak points.

It was also hard not to trust her full fuel tank. This Prime was not suffering a constant energon shortage, and in fact expressed confusion when she brought up how well he was doing. Arcee wondered why she was surprised. Of course it was a lie. During their bondage, she’d distantly wonder how all those opulent fools who called themselves rulers of Protihex could keep themselves so well-fed, but she and her brother had to focus so much on survival that she had no energy to think about things like deception. Now her head was clearer than she ever remembered it being, and apparently her brain had chosen tonight for reflection.

The scenes right before Megatronus Prime’s dramatic entrance into their arena flashed through her mind. If he had arrived a few minutes later…

She could tell that Galvatron was awake. Her thoughts had stirred him, but he didn’t feel angry. “You threw our battle, didn’t you?” she asked softly.

Galvatron’s red optics lighted, casting a faint glow on his face. “So what if I did?”

“Fool.”

He sighed. “Arcee, you’re stronger than me. We both know this. If Megatronus had not been there to rescue us, which of us would have stood a better chance of survival?”

It was a cold way to put it and he was right, which made Arcee’s blood boil. “Absolute nonsense,” she spat, pressing his chest, tugging him every so slightly closer.

“You are stronger,” Galvatron said. “I am older. Being older confers upon me a certain responsibility. It’s why I deserve the largest share of gummy cubes.”

Arcee huffed. “ _ That’s _ because you’re voracious and bad at sharing.” She fell quiet, thinking. “What is your responsibility?”

“Your safety.”

Safety? Did it keep her safe for him to take such great risks in battles? Her spark felt like it was going to explode at least once a match!

Then it came to her. His boldness, the way he ran into enemies with his ax raised like a madman, and the blase way he spoke to her just now. She was supposed to fall back, to observe, to stay out of his way while he tested the enemy for their strengths and weaknesses. He knew it was the most dangerous and uncertain part of a fight, so he took it for himself, and she’d allowed it because they’d never communicated it out loud. She did as he wanted because he’d seemed so stupidly unaware of everything around him, in need of direction, but she now saw that was a ruse, too.

Arcee raised her head, this realization unsettling her further. Galvatron watched her placidly. For some reason, seeing him lay there so quietly, so accepting of his supposed lot in life, made her spark lurch and twist. Emotion overwhelmed her and she didn’t know why.

“Oh, come here,” Galvatron said, using that soft voice he reserved for her alone. “You don’t have to be so sad about it.” Him. A large part of the emotion was coming from him. He didn’t want that so-called responsibility, but he imposed it on himself anyway because he thought he had to, as the older one, as the  _ weaker _ one.

She folded over onto him, pressing her face as close to an armor plate as she could and then closing her optics tight, trying to shut out the world.  _ Stop, _ she thought.  _ Stop thinking of yourself as worthless. I have already shown you it isn’t true. _ She wanted to say these things, but she was angry and held her words. Her anger was for what had been done to him, to both of them, but she wasn’t sure she could get her point across without making it look like she was angry with her brother for some perplexing reason.

So, for a few moments she lay there tense and quiet, while Galvatron presumably considered what to say next.

“Why are you awake, anyway?” he asked.

“I had a dream,” she said, muffled against his metal. “Of before. It’s this place. I…” She pursed her lips. “I don’t like it here.” She didn’t know how else to phrase it.

“What don’t you like?” He snorted. “What’s disagreeable about this place?”

“I don’t know.” She cringed, shuddering against him. “It’s foolish.”

“No. What is it?”

“I don’t trust Megatronus,” she admitted. “I know you like him, but...what if he ends up treating us no better? What if this is a trick? What if none of it is real? You know how our old master liked all of those machines, the ones that hooked up to our heads. What if we’re stuck in some sick game of his?” She didn’t know that was something she was worried about. Even as she said it, she didn’t take herself seriously, but she wanted to say it nonetheless.

“Uh. Well. I don’t think that last thing is happening.” Galvatron paused. “You’re right. What if Megatronus is no better than—than  _ him _ ?” Galvatron had trouble saying, and hearing, their old master’s name, which was why Arcee avoided it. “I can’t tell you if he is or not.”

_ Is this supposed to help, my dear brother? _ Arcee thought, scowling.

“Arcee, what’s happening at this moment? What are we doing?”

“Laying down in a bed. A real bed. Not a recharging slab, but we didn’t want one.”

Galvatron nodded. “Is it a good moment?”

“Um...yes.” Better than most, anyway.

“All right then.”

“All right? That’s it?”

“I can’t tell you what’s going to happen. Perhaps your fears are well-founded and Megatronus does something horrible to us tomorrow. We won’t know until it happens. So many things could happen, Arcee, and yes, some of them are bad. Many are good too. We have to trust that good things happen, and that when bad things happen, we can do something about it.”

“Something being?”

“Run away. Fight. Whatever the situation calls for. We’ll do it, but there’s no use sitting around, worrying about the future, and missing out on the present.”

His logic seemed odd to her, but she decided to trust him. She did feel better. “I suppose that’s acceptable. Thank you, brother.”

She slid off his chest and went back to holding him from the side. He clasped a hand over hers, then shut his optics. Arcee stayed awake a few minutes longer, feeling their sparks pulse in tandem, a warm and ever-present reminder of their shared survival. It  _ was _ a good moment. Maybe one day she’d look back on it as the first of many.

**Author's Note:**

> i love them and i project so hard. it feels like it's been so long since i last posted something. finally i am writing again and i feel alive and it's October and nothing is right. when i say i want this all to be over what does that mean? there is an end, right? i don't know but i'm trying to remember it's about moments. Our lives are all moments. don't miss out on the good moments because you're afraid they'll disappear. you'll spend all your time worrying and not even notice when they're over.
> 
> thanks for reading


End file.
